The abnormally high number of police shootings in Albuquerque has drawn nationwide attention, leading to condemnation of the police officers involved. While the police involved in these shootings are, obviously, a part of the problem, there is another piece of the puzzle that must be addressed to wit; the unnecessary and increasing number of officer involved use of deadly force is on the rise on a national scale. The investigations of these events are rather perfunctory and the limited information provided by the state of New Mexico reveals that their training of police officers totals 657 hours, a very small number to say the least. To put this in terms that people may understand a little better, that is half the amount of hours of training that a paramedic in New Mexico is required to undergo. In addition, there are no mandatory psychological evaluations of police officers during their training, before they are employed, or continuing throughout their career. We can think of no other professions that allow the taking of a life that do not require mandatory follow up or recertification.

It is our position that these two factors lead to many of the fatal police shootings of unarmed and/or mentally ill people. Our goal is to address both of these factors - lack of training and lack of mandatory psychological evaluations. We call upon both state and federal governments to re-examine the criteria used to certify these officers are indeed mentally stable enough to continue in a profession where they literally control life or death. This includes not just total hours, but hours spent in each area. For example, New Mexico requires their officers to undergo 69 hours of firearms training. This is roughly equivalent to a four-credit college course.

We call upon all citizens interested in addressing these issues to join us in working towards reasonable training and evaluation of police officers in not only Albuquerque, New Mexico, but law enforcement organizations everywhere. to push for reasonable training and evaluation of the officers who are employed with the sole purpose of protecting American citizens. This is not a local problem; it is a national one. We do not seek to disparage the many thousands of officers who perform a very difficult task on a daily basis. We seek only to improve not only their performance but our own safety and that of our families.